


React

by rudbeckia



Series: Random Worlds [36]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 14:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12727974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Armitage gets a call - his parents are visiting. Ben offers to make the experience easier for Armitage by pretending they’re a couple.(follows a week or two after the last fic in the series)





	React

Ben returned from the library at lunchtime, contemplating a Friday afternoon of pretending to work until Armitage got home, to find Armitage standing on a chair and cleaning out the kitchen cupboards. One of Ben’s CDs blared loud enough from Armitage’s CD player that Armitage didn’t hear Ben open and close the main door. Ben leaned against the door frame and smiled at the sight: Armitage wore a plastic disposable apron, a pair of pink rubber gloves and a scowl. On the worktop sat a basin of steaming water that smelled strongly of pine. Ben paused the music and Armitage looked around in confusion.

“Oh!” His face settled into a worried frown. “I borrowed a CD. I know you said I could but I still feel like I should apologise for going into your room.”  
“Why?” said Ben with a grin. “Did you find my porn?”  
“Do you mean that illustrated book of eighteenth century philosophers?” quipped Armitage. “Very hot. Put the CD back on, will you? I haven’t finished so I have not earned the reward of turning it off myself and soothing my ears with something that actually has a tune.”  
Ben laughed and pressed play.

An hour later, Armitage was still cleaning. The kitchen sparkled although the chipped crockery and mismatched glassware drying on the draining rack brought the gleam down a notch, and everything smelled fresher than Ben had ever experienced in an enclosed space occupied by students. Armitage had moved on to the bathroom and Ben could hear the thump and slap of a scrubbing pad on the sides of the bath. He leaned through the door to watch.  
“Um, whatchadoin?” asked Ben.  
“Cleaning up.” Armitage rinsed down the bath and sloshed disinfectant down the plughole then stood up and stretched. He gave the toilet a disgusted glare. “Got a phone call. My parents are visiting tomorrow.”  
“Oh!” Ben set his lips into a tight line. “That’s... nice?”  
“No. No it is not.” Armitage whirled to face Ben and pointed a pink finger at him. “My stepmother is going to pick fault with everything about the way I live, especially my lack of disposable income. My father is going to express disappointment that I am doing a Ph.D. and not taking an entry-level position with his company and they will both question me _at length_ about whether or not I have a girlfriend yet who might, one day, provide them with a couple of skinny, ginger grandchildren. My stepmother will blame my lack of permanent female companionship on my lack of earnings, insist that I cook then probably refuse to eat from the chipped plates. My father will pick at his food and complain that I should have taken them out since they made all the effort of driving here.” Armitage stopped for breath. “It will be many things, but not _nice.”_

Ben held Armitage before he really knew he was going to give his flatmate a hug.  
“Ugh that sounds exhausting,” he said. “What can I do to help?”  
Armitage sighed and pulled away. “Nothing. They won’t ever change. I am the family disappointment.”  
“Shit!” said Ben with a laugh. “The family disappointment is getting a Ph.D. in something I can’t pronounce. Must be one fuck of a family!”  
“One fuck _up_ of a family,” corrected Armitage. “There’s only me and I’m the result of an indiscretion. My real mum was the help and I have not yet been forgiven for that.”  
“So,” Ben chose his words and tone carefully. “I’ve been right all along when I’ve said my flatmate’s a clever bastard?”

Armitage laughed and Ben breathed a sigh of relief. Armitage fished around in the disinfectant and found a scrubbing brush. He started to tackle the bathroom floor.  
“Look, we can do this,” said Ben. “Damage limitation. Do you need a girlfriend for the day? I can ask Phasma for you. She’d scare the crap out of anyone. Oh!” Ben frowned. “That’s pretty rude of me. I should have asked if you have an actual girlfriend first.”  
Armitage paused in his task of scrubbing the linoleum floor that had surprised him by revealing that it was red, not brown. He frowned at Ben.  
“Is there something wrong with your gaydar?”  
Ben smiled. “So no girlfriend. You know Phasma?”  
“Yes,” said Armitage. “But as much as I would love to see Phasma deal with the donor of my y-chromosome, I doubt she’d play along convincingly enough.”  
“Do they know you’re gay?”  
“Should do, I’ve been out for ages. Probably think it’s a phase I’ll grow out of when I leave full time education.” Armitage grabbed a towel to mop the floor dry then looked at the filthy fabric in disgust. He tipped the beige disinfectant down the toilet and flushed it then walked past Ben back into the kitchen to fill up his basin again.

“Stop cleaning, please. I could help you.” Ben put a hand on Armitage’s shoulder and reached across to turn the tap off. Armitage froze with the bottle of _Zoflora_ in both hands.  
“How? By scrubbing the disgusting bathroom floor for me? It’s not even _our_ dirt since we’ve only lived here a fortnight. Ugh, I’ve been _barefoot_ on that surface!”  
“I’ll help you clean if you want. But I meant— let’s put on a show.” Ben looked away.  
“What kind of show?” asked Armitage.  
“Make it look like we’re together.” 

Ben said that then went to his room with his stomach churning and his heart thumping. He left the door open but made himself busy, as if the comment had been a throwaway idea, one Armitage could laugh at and then go back to sanitising his life. Armitage appeared at Ben’s door complete with disposable apron and pink marigolds.  
“What would that mean?” he asked quietly. “Pretending to be a couple?”  
“Nah,” Ben said with a sigh. “It’s probably a stupid idea.”  
“You’d do that?” Armitage took a step into the room. “Really? I mean... it might work. They’d stop asking about girls I suppose and maybe— No.” Armitage backed out of the room. “I couldn’t ask you to do that for me.”  
“You’re not asking,” said Ben. “I offered.”

After a little _oh we can’t_ and _sure we can_ to-and-fro, it was settled. Armitage would finish cleaning the flat, Ben would go shopping for lunch things to impress _(”I can cook, Armie, really, trust me!”)_ and they would work together to make the flat look as if a couple lived there. Armitage drew up a list of things they should buy and Ben said Ikea wasn’t far away.  
“We should get into character,” said Ben as they walked through the big revolving door, and grabbed Armitage’s hand. Armitage smiled and laced their fingers together, and Ben thought he might burst. He tried not to smile too loudly.

Back home, much later, Ben threw out all the old crockery and unpacked the new dinner set and glasses, rinsing and drying before he put them in the clean cupboards. Between them, they wrestled Ben’s single bed into Armitage’s room and shoved it up against Armitage’s before putting new bedding on to make it look like a king size. Armitage’s desk had to come out of his bedroom into Ben’s. Ben’s desk, really just a table, became their dining table. Armitage built the two small sofas they’d bought and set them at right angles to one another around a low table made from a couple of sturdy cardboard boxes with a gaudy cloth draped on top. By midnight, Armitage was satisfied that the flat looked like a home a couple lived in rather than a place for two students to sleep when they were not working in the library. 

Armitage stood in the living room, looking up at the new lampshade they’d bought to replace the paper ball Ben had shredded by accident on the day he’d moved in. Ben watched for a moment.  
“Armie? I need to take a shower and go to bed. Do you want me to sleep in here?”  
“No,” Armitage closed his eyes and gave a sympathetic yawn. “We can both sleep in my room. It’s fine.”  
“Okay.” Ben vanished and Armitage looked around again. He felt lighter than he had in months. His parents were coming, but he was ready for them. He had Ben. The thought made Armitage blink and shake his head.  
_He’s helping you out._  
_He’s your flatmate._  
_He’s your friend. Not your boyfriend._  
Pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes for a moment, Armitage took a couple of deep breaths and went to his — their — bedroom.

It felt weird and exciting and terrifying but Ben finished his shower and went to Armitage’s room. He slipped into his own bed with its new oversized bedding, lay on his side and smiled at Armitage in the dim light from the cute nightlight he’d insisted on getting just because he liked it.  
“Worried?”  
“No. Yes.” Armitage turned his head and looked at Ben. “You can back out any time.”  
“Not gonna,” replied Ben. “Should I kiss you in front of them?”  
“You don’t have to.”  
“I know, but maybe it would look more convincing if... “ Ben shifted onto his back and regarded the ceiling. “It’s fine if you’d rather I didn’t.”  
“It’s fine,” Armitage said after a long pause. “I think it would be a good idea. As you say, more convincing.”  
“Mmhmm,” replied Ben. “I’ll do that, then.”  
Armitage rolled over and put his hand on Ben’s shoulder.  
“Ben?”  
“Mmh?”  
“What if I react... weird. To you kissing me, I mean.”  
“Oh. Um, dunno? Do you usually react weird?”  
“I don’t know. Been a while.”  
“Oh. Well. Um...” Ben propped himself up on one elbow and looked at Armitage’s worried face. He smiled.  
“C’mere.” The word was barely out before his hand was in Armitage’s hair and his lips pressed against Armitage’s mouth, tongue just touching Armitage’s lips for a second and then pulling back. The nightlight clicked off and left them in darkness.

“Well,” said Armitage after a few seconds. “I think that would be okay.”


End file.
